Speculation: Strange Adventures #4

This post contains spoilers!

Strange Adventures #4, the latest installment Jim Starlin's current DC Cosmic opus, seemingly puts to close the ongoing (on this blog, anyway) debate over Hawkman and his place in the Abberant Six.  

For those coming in late, the Abberant Six are, from what we know, six individuals destined to both aide and battle against the godlike Synnar The Demiurge at some indetermined point in the future.  This group was first mentioned in the frequently-referenced Hawkman Special, and was fleshed out a little bit more in the balance of Rann-Thanagar Holy War (including the Adam Strange Special), and has become a minor focus of Strange Adventures.

At any rate, in this issue a future version of Synnar (it's complicated) explains to Adam Strange why he and certain others are able to perceive the stars disappearing from the universe when no one else is -- unsurprisingly, it's because he is a member of the Six, along with Starman (Gavyn), Comet, and Eye.  When Adam pushes back against this and asks about Hawkman, Synnar comes right out and says that reality is in flux, and Hawkman is no longer part of the Abberant Six, and that another has taken his place.  (Unlike Adam, we readers know that to be Bizarro.)

That pretty much puts it all out on the table, doesn't it?  I know the online attitude is that Starlin wrote the Special and then Geoff Johns got mad at him and "made" DiDio change it, but I don't buy that.  Especially considering that Starlin said he was charged by DiDio to write Hawkman as a Space Cop.  Personally, I still believe in my personal speculation -- that after Hawkman and Hawkgirl died in Final Crisis, we would have gotten Katar Hol for Starlin to write, Carter Hall and Shiera Hall for Johns to write on Earth-2 (with the Justice Society Infinity), and zombie Kendra Hall for Johns to use in Blackest Night.  But with the redaction of their deaths, that changed things and now, as Synnar says, reality is in flux.

Still, even though Hawkman will not be a player in this series, I have to say that sometimes, things just work out: I am totally enjoying the heck out of Starlin's current output and would not have gotten into it if not for Hawkman.  So even though the Winged Wonder is out, my interest is still piqued.